Pokemon X Kalos Journey
by AK123
Summary: Calem Xavier has just moved to the Kalos region, a new place in which he has never seen. He will travel all around Kalos with his friends Serena, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor, and discover the meaning for their journey. Along the way, Team Flare will seek to drive the world, but the teens will not allow it. Join them on their quest toward the Pokemon League.
1. Chapter 1: Beginning of Adventure

Chapter 1: End of Relocation, Beginning of Adventure

"_Hello fanfiction readers, I am AK123, and writing fanfiction is my destiny! For all of you who don't know, that's my introduction. Welcome to Pokemon X Kalos Journey, my very first story I've ever written on . I just literally got on here today, and will provide with some amazing stories. _

_I know most of you are here because you're tired of the dull and short chapters everywhere else, I was one of you, constantly looking for true entertainment in fanfiction for a while. There are some some good and really long, enjoyable stories out there that I've savored and still wait for this very day. Those people who wrote them, inspired me, given me the hope and determination to do this, and I swear upon Arceus I won't let you down!_

_The time of my chapters will vary, but will get better over the summer, and will be a while before complete. But I also have other fanfiction ideas I want to try on here, but that will have to wait. Forgive me if it's not the best you've read since I've seen Pokemon stories with over 300,000 words, but I'll do my best._

_Anyway, enough chit chat, on with the story!"_

* * *

Pokemon, mysterious creatures that live in all corners of the world, and possibly beyond. People, the second populace of the world, ones who live in harmony with Pokemon each and every day. These two group of living beings depend, and need each other for the sake of today and tomorrow. Two sides of the same coin, yet similar in many ways than one.

Living together for countless generations, both species increasing in number, the world prospers, expands, and thrives. While many seek to further the bonds between people and Pokemon, others seek the path to ruin. Those who possess selfish intentions in their hearts pull upon the connecting string of trust and friendship, only to utterly fail in their wake.

While evil has tried and tried again, nothing will ever destroy the everlasting bond shared between us, being shattered by the stronger defenders. One such as this one.

This is the story of a young man, one who would defy the ending fate of the world's civilization. His story truly begins in the quiet and distant Vaniville Town, where his quest with friends and Pokemon begins.

Flying over the peaceful Vaniville town was a small bird Pokemon. It had red feathers around his body with white on his stomach depicting a small flame.

Circling overhead for a minute, it began to descend down to one of the homes on the sideline. The home had an open window on the first floor in which it landed on, inside stood a woman cutting a few ingredients for morning breakfast.

"Fletchling," the little robin Pokemon chirped to her.

She looked at it and said, "Ah, there you are Fletchling. Could you wake him up please, apparently the move left him wiped out last night. Even so, he sleeps like a Snorlax sometimes, could you please?"

Fletchling nodded his head and flew inside toward the stairs. There he flew upward toward a partially open doorway. With a little difficulty, he made it through and flew to the bed.

There he stared at the boy sleeping. He was 14 years old. Sleeping so soundly that it would take something like a loud drum to wake him up.

Again, the Fletchling flew up, then 5 feet above the bed, it flew straight towards the boy with it's beak.

As contact was made, the boy's eyes widened and yelled at the top of his lungs. The impact having him jump out of bed and onto the floor. The Fletchling landed on a nearby chair as the boy was stirring to get up.

When he did, he looked quite agitated, holding onto his left side for a second before turning towards Fletchling with a fairly large frown.

"Why must you do that?! I swear, you could have just chirped to my ear or something. That was totally uncalled for!"

"Fletch" it chirped, seemingly looking sorry for what he had done.

Fletchling had a habit of waking him up in the morning with that method, so he should've been used to it by now. But that was not the case at all. Recently moved to Vaniville Town, he appeared worn out from it, so being agitated was understandable. Fletchling looked down at the floor, contemplating what it did.

The boy's eyes softened a bit, looking at the robin Pokemon with sympathy. "Oh alright, just don't do it again. You could have done something a bit less... painful."

Fletchling chirped happily and flew back downstairs. The boy smiled and walked toward the nearby mirror on his wall and looked at himself. His hair was a bit messy due to the fact that he just woke up, and it didn't help that he fell down from Fletchling pecking him. He quickly fixed that, rearranging it to its usual, straight form, and was looking normal again.

Walking downstairs, the boy looked toward the kitchen where his mother was cooking something delicious from the smell. She looked toward him and smiled, walking up to him.

"Well good morning, sleep well?" she asked.

Smiling back, he replied "mostly, minus the part where Fletchling pecked me on the left side."

She chuckled a bit, "Well, nothing I did woke you up, you were out cold, we only moved in 2 days ago and you slept like we just arrived. But you're right, sorry. Anyway, you should probably get out of those pajamas." She was referring to his blue like pajamas he wore each night, barefoot.

He looked down and back to her, then nodded before proceeding back upstairs. The woman's name was Grace, Grace Xavier. Originally a Rhyhorn racer who competed all around the world. From the middle of Kanto, all the way to the northern point of Unova. She'd recently retired to settle down in the quiet little Vaniville Town. She lived there and took care of her son.

Looking back in the mirror again, the boy turned to the nearby dresser and took out some clothes, removing his pajamas.

About 3 minutes later, he was out of the late night pajamas, and into a full set of clothes.

Wearing a white t-shirt underneath a blue, zipped jacket, also with a pair blue jeans. He also put on a pair of black sneakers, including a set of matching, finger free black gloves. And Finally, a red cap sitting atop his head with dark, wide-frame sunglasses. All combined together, he was ready for a new day, little did he know though this day would be the one that would officially change his life.

His name, was Calem Xavier, a 14 year old boy stated before. He was about 5 1/2 feet tall  
with dark, black hair, with a light skin tone, and grayish pupiled eyes.

All ready to go, Calem went back downstairs to find his mother with breakfast ready and sitting at the table.

His mom urging him over, he walked over and sat at the dining table. On his plate was a stack of 3 pancakes, with some butter on top, some silverware, and a glass of moomoo milk sitting by it.

Sitting down, Calem said, "How do I look?"

Grace smiling, she responded, "Fit and ready for the day. So, how do you feel about our big move..."

10 minutes later, Calem and Grace were washing the dishes after the meal. Done, Grace looked to her son.

"So Calem, why don't you go meet the neighbors, you've mostly been in here since we came. Go socialize, make some friends, and have fun."

He quietly sighed, "Alright mom, I'll be back in a bit"

As he walked toward the door, she called out, "Hey, don't wake Rhyhorn up, you think you're scary when woken up, just see how she reacts."

He nodded with a sheepish grin and opened the door, exiting the house and stepping outside.

Vaniville town, it was a beautiful place, very spacious, open, and best of all, quiet. Mom and him wouldn't be able to stand a place like Lumious City, where thousands of people lived and worked.

To the left when walking out was Rhyhorn, sleeping in her specially designed bed. This particular Rhyhorn was the very same one that Grace had used for so many races around the world years ago. They both were very famous for their spectacular wins and victories before she decided to settle down and had Calem.

But in front of him was something unexpected. Two girls were standing at the gate to his home, appeared to be waiting.

The girl to his right was younger than the other one. She was shorter too, around 5 feet, probably aged to about 13. She had brown hair that was was made into 2 ponytails to the left and right back sides. Her skin tone was a bit darker than the other girl, also with green colored eyes. She wore a pink t-shirt that had little ribbons stripped to it, with blue shorts and some sneakers.

The other girl, to his left, was a bit different than her. For one, she was generally around Calem's height and age, 14, with light skin like Calem's and similar gray pupiled eyes. Had dark, blonde colored hair, tied into 1 ponytail behind her head. Wearing a black blouse, a red miniskirt, black thigh high socks, and black and pink sneakers.

'What are they doing at our gate? are they waiting for someone?' Calem wondered with a raised eyebrow.

When the older girl saw Calem walk out she smiled. She nudged the other girl who then noticed him too. The older looking one walked up to him with the other girl.

"Hi there, you must be the new boy who just moved in with is mother, right?" She asked.  
Calem nodded. "My name is Serena, and this..."

"Shauna's my name! Nice to meet you!" The other girl exclaimed, interrupting Serena.

"Hi, i'm Calem, so Serena and Shauna huh? Okay, what are you doing here?" I asked them.

Serena walked up and said with a sarcastic tone, "What, isn't it custom to welcome new people into the neighborhood? Especially when their living right next to one another?" She teased with a smile.

Shauna spoke up, "We've come to get you." What was that supposed to mean. Some welcome to the neighborhood union or something.

Serena, more serious, asked me "Would you happen to know about Professor Sycamore by chance?"

I nodded slowly. Professor Sycamore is a famous Pokemon professor who lives in Lumiouse City, studying pokemon of course. His basis of research however, was unknown to him.

Serena continued, "Well, he's asked 5 kids, including you, me, and Shauna, for something he needs help with in Lumiouse City. But why he chose you though, I don't know. I mean no offense of course. But you did just move here, so the fact he knows about you is a little surprising."

That was true. How did Professor Sycamore know about him? Did mom know him? Or did he require specific people for whatever this "mission" is?

Shauna, obviously looking excited, spoke up. "You're forgetting something Serena. The part about the, you-know-what."

Serena looked back toward Shauna, "Oh right, would you like the honor of telling him?" She asked, with a large grin on her face as well.

"My pleasure," she replied. "Okay, so get this, in return for us helping him, the professor is going to give each of us a... wait for it, a pokemon!" She exclaimed, with obvious energy and excitement in her voice.

His eyes immediately widened. A pokemon! For me?! This news was as shocking as a thunderbolt and as powerful as a rock smash. Calem loved pokemon, everything about them just gave him a happy feeling. And he was getting one!

He regained his voice after about a minute and replied, "A... a pokemon? Really? That's just, incredible!" That's all he could really say at the moment.

Serena and Shauna didn't seem to mind too much from the lack of speech."I know, Meowth got your tongue? The same thing happened to me when Serena said this!" Shauna said.

Serena then spoke up again, "If you want to know more, head to Aquacorde Town, we'll be waiting for you."

And with that, Serena and Shauna walked off toward the gate to route 1, which led to Aquacorde Town. Giving Calem a moment think.

'An actual pokemon, and we just moved here too. I suppose I should at least check it out, this is the opportunity of a lifetime!' Not many children can say that they can receive pokemon from an actual region professor, those trainers were some of the best.

After about two minutes, he began walking toward the gate the girls went through along route 1. "There's a chance for everything they say."

Going through the gate close to his home, he came along the pretty lined up path leading north. Route 1.

It was generally short, only about a 5 minute walk from one town to the next. Wild pokemon kept to themselves in the woods to the left and right side of the path, making it perfectly safe. It was very peaceful and could clear up even the cloudiest of days for people and pokemon.

5 minutes later after a nice stroll, he arrived in Aquacorde Town. It was generally small, but still a few times bigger than Vaniville Town which was mostly residential. Here they had shops, homes, a cafe, a few businesses, but one of the few civilized areas without a pokemon center for trainers.

Suddenly, he just realized something. Where were they? 'Hold on a minute, they didn't even tell me where to go specifically... Oh just great. Where could they be?'

Although small, the town was still somewhere you could get lost and difficult to navigate through sometimes. And since the girls didn't tell him where they went, he had to search randomly.

After about 25 minutes he grew frustrated. This was getting ridiculous. Searching for 2 girls who suddenly walked up asking to meet them here for a pokemon.

He then stopped to think for a second. 'Okay, you're going around in circles Calem, just think for a moment. If I tried to meet up with someone, then where would be a nice place to meet?'

Suddenly he thumped himself in the head. The cafe was a good place, and he walked around like a lone child. Stupid!

Aquacorde Town had only 1 cafe, no name or anything, just a cafe. It was located on the west side of town, and so that was where he needed to go.

After heading to that direction he finally found them. Shauna and Serena were sitting at the largest table in the cafe with two other kids, one looking large and between Shauna and Serena's age, and one around 10. They looked a bit impatient by the looks of it.

When Shauna looked up and saw him, she nearly sprang up from her chair. "Where have you been? We've been waiting for half an hour! What kept you?" She asked, clearly agitated.

"You two of course. You didn't tell me we were meeting at the cafe, you just told me to come to Aquacorde Town. How could I have known?" He retorted back to her.

Her face quickly turned from angry to embarrassed, same with Serena. They both blushed at the humility of not telling him exactly where they were suppose to meet.

Serena laughed a bit, "Ha ha, sorry about that." Regaining composure, she continued. "Anyway, sit down, we'll explain."

I did just that, and sat at the chair right next to her. This day was a bit strange so far, he was hoping this would become more clear later.

"Alright then, now that we're all here, let's get started," Serena stated. "Tierno, this is Calem, my newest neighbor."

She was speaking to the large kid on the other side of the table, he wore a black t-shirt with a Vanillite on it, along with a pair of shorts from what Calem could see. He also had spiky black hair pointing upwards, with black eyes and a fairly wide smile on his face.

"So, you're Calem, eh? I'll say this, Serena's description of you was right on target," He said cheerfully. "I'm Tierno, nice to meet you!"

"Likewise," Calem replied to the large boy named Tierno. Next to him was sitting a boy younger than everyone at the table, most likely ranging around 12.

He looked to be around 4 1/2 or shorter feet tall, with grayish-green eyes and neatly fashioned orange hair. He wore a green t-shirt with short, white sleeves, dark jeans, and a pair of green sneakers. He was looking away from everyone else as if embarrassed.

Snapping back to reality when Serena spoke, she said, "Tierno's not exactly a pokemon trainer he claims, he has serious dance moves though. And next to him is Trevor."

Tierno spoke up again, "Trevor is a bit shy, but he's real nice to friends, and he's also a huge braniac when it comes to pokemon information, or difficult math tests. Come on Trevs, say hi to Calem."

Trevor then looked at me and said "H-hello" before he immediately turned away again.

Tierno chuckled a little and sweat dropped from that. Suddenly Shauna spoke up. "Tierno, how much longer do we have to wait? I really want to meet my pokemon now!" She said, appearing impatient again.

"Oh right. Sorry, i'm sure you all are just as anxious as Trevs and me were when we got our pokemon. Alright then, let me just get them out," Tierno said. He reached to the left of his chair where he picked up a cylinder shaped container. Opening it up, it revealed 3 pokeballs inside.

"I hope you'll be just as stoked as when me and Trevor first got our pokemon, alrighty then, come on out everybody!" Tierno then picked up all of them and threw them into the air. All 3 opened up, and a white looking energy appeared from each, revealing the pokemon themselves.

The first one appeared as a little chipmunk like pokemon. It had brown fur around its body with lighter areas on its stomach and face. It had blackish eyes with a pink nose, and a green cover around its head and back, and a green tail with a red outline, with leaf like objects growing from it's head. It had small claws on its feet, most likely used for climbing or battle. It had a huge smile on its face, definitely a cheerful one from just looking.

The second pokemon appeared to be a small fox, averaging less than a foot tall on its 4 legs. It had yellow fur coated around its body, with orange fur growing out of its ear. It had large, orange pupiled eyes, with a smile on its face, not as large as the first pokemon, but still pretty wide.

And the third pokemon looked to be a frog-like pokemon, about the same height as the second one. A bubble substance surrounded its front and back of its neck. Its skin was entirely blue with yellow outlined eyes. it smiled like the second one as well.

All 3 pokemon were revealed, Calem, Serena, and Shauna got out of their seats to meet them.

"So then, decide among yourselves who gets which pokemon," Tierno stated.

Shauna and Serena nodded at each other and looked at Calem, "I say he should have the honor to pick first. Go ahead Calem, pick your partner," Serena said.

Calem nodded gratefully and walked up to the group of 3 and looked down at them. Each of them smiled at him, and he smiled back. But which to choose? This was a critical moment where he would decide his partner and friend.

Shauna spoke up suddenly, "Come on Calem, can you hurry it up? I already know which I'll pick, why can't you?" She asked, seeming to be too anxious at the moment.

Serena looked at her and said, "Look Shauna. This is a very important moment for each of us, picking your first pokemon isn't like picking out a dress. One of them is going to be our lifetime partners, and choosing carefully is crucial. Do you understand?"

Shauna thought about it for a moment, there was truth in that. She just wanted the cutest one out of the 3, not considering of how it was so important choice for her. "I guess you're right."

After about 30 seconds or so, he lowered down and looked intensely at the second one, the fox pokemon. And it stared intensely back, seemingly looking to prove itself. It was as if it was a reflection of himself. It appeared intelligent, neat, and mannered, unlike the first one. He could feel something deep down inside of him, something he never truly felt before, as if something connected him to the pokemon. Looking at the other 2 however, not much was felt unfortunately.

Calem stood back up again and looked at the others, ready to choose. "Alright, I've made my decision."

Everyone looked expectantly at Calem. Ready to hear his answer.

He lowered down again, looking at the fox pokemon. "I choose you. It's really nice to meet you, i'm Calem. I have a good feeling that we'll be good partners and great friends." The Pokemon's smile widened on being picked. "Fenn" it said before jumping onto Calem's arm as he stood back up.

Shauna then immediately ran past him, seemingly have already made up her mind. She picked up the chipmunk pokemon while spinning around and cheered, "And I pick you! I'm Shauna! We're going to have a great, fun time together!" The Pokemon's smile was huge and was laughing cheerfully, seemingly liking its hyper spirited trainer.

Serena then walked over to the third pokemon, "Hi there, i'm Serena. It's because of you that I get to go on a journey. Thank you!" "Froakie" it said, clearly appreciating a calmer trainer than Shauna.

Trevor then finally spoke up, "So Serena picked Froakie, Shauna picked Chespin, and Calem picked Fennekin. It looks like we've all made our decisions. Here, you'll probably need these, to help you understand pokemon on a much deeper level." He then pulled 3 high tech looking devices to each of them. Calem looked at the device for a second before looking at Trevor as he was about to continue.

"They're called pokedexes. Professor Sycamore asked each of us to complete the pokedex for him, that is our task. You can use them to reveal information about pokemon you find in your travels. Like their name, abilities, moves, natural habitat, etc. But most of the information you have to gather from catching them and scanning the pokeball. You don't have to of course, and he doesn't expect you to get every pokemon in there, but it would help. Why don't you try them."

Shauna quickly turned her pokedex on and pointed it at Chespin. Suddenly an image of Chespin appeared on the screen and an electronic, female voice began.

'_Chespin: the spiny-nut pokemon._  
_The quills on its head are usually soft. When it flexes them, the points become so hard that they can pierce rock_.'

At that moment, Chespin flexed the leafy points on top of it's head. It was true. The leaves instantly became sharp, it could definitely pierce rock.

Serena did the same thing, activating her pokedex and pointing it at Froakie.

'_Froakie: the bubble frog pokemon._  
_It secretes flexible bubbles from its chest and back called frubbles. The frubbles reduce the damage it would otherwise take when attacked_.'

Froakie then activated the frubbles, they expanded and circled around it's chest and back.

Finally, Calem did the same thing, pointing it at Fennekin, it did the same thing.

'_Fennekin: the fox pokemon._  
_Eating a twig fills it with energy, and its roomy ears give vent to air hotter than 390 degrees Fahrenheit_.'

Suddenly Fennekin sneezed, the orange fur around his ears lighting up for a second. A little bit of heat escaped the ears.

Shauna had an exciting look on her face as she turned to Calem. "Do you want to give Fennekin a nickname Calem? I hear that trainers tend to nickname their pokemon for a strong bond."

Calem looked toward her, "Naw, i'm not the nicknaming type. Fennekin's a good enough name." He looked down at Fennekin with a smile as he smiled back.

"Alright" she responded.

Tierno then gave an envelope to Calem. "For your mom to read, explaining everything that's happened and will happen. Give it to her before you go." It was true, mom would want to hear about this, only time would tell whether she'd be upset or proud.

Calem nodded and said, "Well, I suppose we should return to Vaniville Town, I suppose you 2 are doing the same?" He asked specifically to Serena and Shauna.

They both nodded, "Yeah, mom already knows, but I need to pack a few things before heading out." Serena said.

"Yeah, mom and dad needs to hear about this for sure, besides, they get pretty uptight when I do something they don't know anything about." Shauna said, with a mischievous smile.

"Well, me and Trevs will be here in Aquacorde Town when you come back. Just make sure you don't take as long as Calem did." Tierno joked.

"Harty-har-har. We'll be back later," Calem countered.

-X-

Stepping back onto route 1, Calem, Serena, and Shauna proceeded down the short path home.

This day so far had proved incredible, first he had just moved to a mysterious new region he'd never even seen before. Then, two girls invite him to accept a pokemon from Professor Sycamore for the purpose of filling the pokedex. And finally, he's returning home to ask his mother if he can go on a journey. How could this day get any better?

About half way there, Shauna stopped and put Chespin down. She yelled to Calem, "Calem, what do you say to a pokemon battle right now?"

Serena and Calem stopped and looked at her, "Now?" Calem asked.

Shauna nodded, "My first battle will be with you. Come on, it'll be good practice for both Chespin and Fennekin! All pokemon need experience, so what do you say?!"

Serena then spoke up, "She is right, pokemon battles really help you get stronger. Might as well."

Calem then looked down to Fennekin who nodded, having a determined look on his face. If they all thought it a good idea, who was he to deny the challenge?

"Alright then, Fennekin go!"

Fennekin hopped off of Calem's shoulder and looked straight at Chespin.

"I guess I'll act as the referee, don't worry, I'll be able to tell when one pokemon faints from battle," Serena offered. Noone argued.

"I'll let you have the first move Shauna," Calem declared.

Shauna grinned, "Thanks Calem. But don't think I'll go easy on you for that. Chespin, use Vine Whip!"

Suddenly, long, green vines appeared from behind Chespin and was heading straight toward Fennekin. Calem didn't appear too nervous.

"Alright Fennekin, run straight toward Chespin and dodge them," Calem yelled. Fennekin nodded and went running at a fast pace. The Vine Whips were missing each time thanks to Fennekin's great speed. Only 8 feet away though, one of them hit Fennekin from the front of the forehead, sending him flying.

"Yes!" Shauna yelled, proud of Chespin for managing to hit Fennekin from that speed.  
Her smile soon vanished though as Fennekin quickly recovered by spinning in the air and landing on his feet. Landing only 6 more feet away, looking about unscathed.

She looked confused. "Wh-what?! How come that didn't do anything?" The Vine Whip had hit him head on and sent him in the air, she thought it would do more damage than that.

"Vine Whip is a grass type move. It's not very effective against a fire type like Fennekin. Just as fire type moves don't work well on water types, and water type moves against grass types. Strategy is a very important part of battle," Serena stated to Shauna.

Shauna looked nervously at Serena. "Uh oh, then that means... Fennekin has the advantage?"

Calem laughed a little from that. It was true, Fennekin had the type advantage to this battle. He could easily end it shortly, but that would seem a bit much. "Tell you what Shauna. Since this is our first battle, I won't use any fire type moves, to win, it'll have to rely on strength, strategy, and a bit of luck."

Shauna sighed in relief. "Phew. Thanks Calem." Then her serious face returned. "Anyway, back to the battle, Chespin use tackle!" Chespin began to sprint towards Fennekin at a similar speed, only having to go about a dozen feet forward.

"Fennekin dodge it!" Calem yelled.

"Fenn" Fennekin slided to the right, easily dodging the tackle. Chespin lost it's balance from missing and was about to fall onto the ground.

"Use this chance. Tail Whip!" Calem yelled.

Running towards Chespin, Fennekin slapped Chespin in the back of it's head with his tail. Sending him to the ground faster.

"Now use tackle!"

Fennekin jumped into the air about 8 feet and landed right on Chespin's back. "Ches-Ches!"  
Chespin screamed, before Fennekin jumped back to Calem's side of the battlefield.

As Chespin was struggling to get up, Calem grinned a little. "Tail Whip is a strategetic move that, although doesn't do much damage, it makes a direct attack easier by lowering the opponent's defense," he stated.

Serena grinned at how well he was doing and how he knew exactly what to do. 'Looks like he did his homework on battling, I may just have to worry about him a bit. But not now.' She thought to herself.

Shauna looked frustrated at his winning strategy. "We can still win this! Chespin put all of your energy into this next tackle!" Chespin immediately got up and ran at Fennekin again.

"Alright, we'll do the same, Fennekin use tackle as well!" Fennekin nodded and began to run towards the colliding Chespin.

Shauna still appeared pretty confident, like she had an ace in the hole. Calem seemed a bit tense seeing her like that, what was she planning?

Shauna smirked, knowing that this would work. "Now Chespin, flex the leaves on your head!"

Obviously understanding her plan, Chespin flexed them, making them very sharp. Lowering his head, aiming the spiky leaves right for Fennekin. He then jumped in the air, ready to collide and deal massive damage.

With only a second to think, Calem yelled "Fennekin roll!"

Fennekin lightly jumped to roll forward, narrowly avoiding the dangerous spikes much to Shauna's disappointment. Unfortunately for Chespin, the spikes instead collided with the stone ground. He became stuck, unable to return the leaves to normal unless they were out.

"Ooohhh, and you were pretty close too Shauna. Looks like Calem thought of a counter though," Serena sympathized. Shauna appeared surprised, she was so sure that flexing Chespin's leaves was very strategetic and would've easily gave her the win. But, then again, Calem was quick.

"Alright Fennekin, we should help out, finish with tackle!" Calem commanded.

"Feeennekin" Fennekin hit Chespin against his back, sending him back to Shauna's direction. He landed on his back, seemingly defeated.

"Well then, it appears Chespin is unable to battle, so victory goes to Fennekin and Calem!" Serena announced while pointing her arm in Calem's direction.

"Fenn-ekin!" Fennekin yelled before jumping into Calem's arms.

"Great work Fennekin, our first battle, and you won it for us!" Calem said to his partner, their first battle a complete win.

Shauna picked Chespin up who was opening his eyes back up. Shauna had a little smile looking at Chespin. "You fought hard, good work Chespin."

"Chespin" Chespin said before Shauna put him back into the pokeball. A red energy absorbed Chespin back inside.

Getting up, she said, "Wow, that was a tough battle Calem, my first one, and I lost."

Serena, done refereeing, walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You tried your best, that's all that matters." She then turned to Calem. "And good job to you too Calem, that was some quick thinking there, avoiding the leafy spikes."

"Thanks Serena, but I think we should hurry up, I think mom is waiting.

And with that, they continued with the few minute walk back.

_Well, first chapter published! I actually did this one a while ago when I wasn't on here as a side hobby, but it's now officially official._

_Also, I picked Fennekin because it seems like the most calm, elegant, and coordinated starter among the three, so yeah, I hope you like it. Now, I have quite a few ideas for what to do in the story later on, but I could use help. Leave a comment or suggestion in the review box, I'll need plenty of inspiration and ideas in order to get this done, and besides, the will of the readers is top priority in my book._

_I will have the next chapter on here very shortly, within the next hour since I just copy, paste, and then add some notes. Anyway, see you shortly!_


	2. Chapter 2: A Journey's Beginning

Chapter 2: A journey's Beginning

_Hello readers, this is AK123, and writing fanfiction is my destiny! Be prepared to hear that in every chapter, because that's my catch phrase for the beginning. I'm back fairly quickly, and ready to give you the fanfiction you crave. This won't be as long as the other one, and like I said, I'm not as good as other writers, so forgive me._

_But enough talk, time to read!_

Arriving back in Vaniville Town, the 3 returned to their homes to inform their parents of the journey they are to embark upon. Calem, with Fennekin still out, approached the family home at noon. Rhyhorn was still sleeping in her bed.

Calem was about to tell his mother about Fennekin, his new friends, and this new journey he's about to go on. Fennekin hopped down and looked at Calem with curious eyes.

"Alright Fennekin, we're going to surprise my mom, you just wait out here while I get her. She'll be so surprised to find you here." Calem stated with a mischievous smile.

Fennekin nodded his head and sat down, ready to surprise.

Calem opened the door to the house, finding mom sitting down on the couch reading a book on Rhyhorn. When Calem shut the door, she turned around and smiled.

"Well there you are. You were gone for a couple of hours, where were you," she asked curiously.

Calem had a huge grin on his face when he said "I'll tell you in just a minute, but you need to come outside first. It's quite a shock," Calem said.

Grace got up from the couch and left the living room to the door. "Okay, what is it, a Pikachu or something?" She teased.

Calem was standing by the door as she approached looking fairly happy. 'What's he so happy about? Hmm, let's see." When she opened the door, Fennekin jumped forward onto her shoulder and then immediately jumped off. Grace, surprised as she was, recoiled to the side of the doorway and saw the pokemon jump into her son's arms.

To say she was surprised would be an understatement, she looked utterly dumbstruck. Calem closed his eyes and smiled at her, revealing his pokeball as he showed her.

"How, but when, where! A pokemon? Where'd you get this little guy?" She asked, looking at him with questioning eyes. Calem mentally giggled in his head, he rarely saw his mother so confused.

Calem looked at her and motioned her into the living room. She followed behind him and they sat down onto the couch, ready to hear what he had to say.

Calem began explaining how Serena and Shauna were waiting for him outside, saying that professor Sycamore required 5 children to help him with his research on pokemon. Also informing her on how Serena, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor, were the ones who helped realized this to him. He then gave the letter to her while still holding Fennekin in his arms.

She removed the seal and began skimming through, carefully reading each line as to confirm what her son was saying. It was all there. Every little detail provided as to why he needed Calem and the others for this request. She then closed the letter and smiled widely at her son.

"I almost can't believe it! We just moved in, and already good things are happening. This is the chance of a lifetime!" She exclaimed, clearly excited of what she was informed of.

Calem smiled back at her, and asked, "So, that means I can go?" clearly excited as well to hear her answer.

Her smile remained on her lips. "Of course, Calem! How could I say no to the chance for my son to grow up in such a good way?" She then got up from the couch and walked towards the staircase. "Just give me a few minutes and I'll have your stuff packed." Then she climbed up the stairs, disappearing from view.

Calem smiled at Fennekin who smiled back. "So Fennekin, are you just as excited as I am for this?" He asked. Fennekin barked happily as he laid on his trainer's lap.

Calem felt great, he could actually go out and explore the Kalos region with pokemon, becoming strong, and find meaning in life.

Grace descended down the stairs a few minutes later with his handbag and backpack. She then turned to him and gave them to him. She then reached into her pocket and smiled warmly at Calem.

"I've been saving this until your birthday, but for this occasion, you'll need it." She then pulled out what she was keeping, and it revealed to be a small, disk like object. "It's a Holo Caster, go ahead, try it!"

She then handed to him as he raised an eyebrow at her before pressing the power button. Then, a faint light appeared from it, creating a holographic projection of a man with a smile.

Then a voice came from the Holo Caster. "Thank you for using the Holo Caster! The Holo Caster is the latest in social and messaging technology, created by Lysandre Labs for people and trainers. The Holo Caster allows you to quickly contact someone you know, or relaying messages to others. It can also be used to review old messages and conversations at your leisure. We hope you enjoy your new patent Holo Caster, and we thank you for choosing it as your communications system."

Then the light faded along with the projection, signifying it was turned off. Calem looked up at his mother with a surprised expression. Nonetheless, she continued to smile. "You can use it to call me when on the road, or any of your new friends, since i'm sure they have their's too."

Calem smiled back at her warmly and gave a family hug which she gladly returned. She was definitely going to miss him since she would just be living here alone. But she knew Calem was going to go on a journey at some point, just not so soon, and she couldn't deny him the chance to travel like this. Children tend to grow up on journies like these, and refusing to allow him this was just like refusing to allow him to grow up.

They then parted on the hug and walked outside to find Rhyhorn awake, sensing the moment. She then looked over at Calem and walked towards him, seemingly knowing what was happening. Calem knelt down on his knees and embraced Rhyhorn in a hug. Fennekin watched it with a warm smile on his face, clearly touched to see such love between not only his own family, but his mother's prized friend.

Calem stepped away from Rhyhorn after the hug, then noticed Serena and Shauna waiting by the gate, smiling at the farewell hug.

Grace then approached him so she could inform him of crucial things to know. "Now Calem, I left 4,000 poke dollars in your Holo Caster, so it should last you a while. Pokemon centers in towns and cities will allow you to stay there and heal your pokemon, a trainer's best friend. There will be dangerous times on a journey which sometimes you can't avoid, but fun times too. I want you to enjoy yourself on this journey, and have fun with all of the pokemon you befriend, got it?"

Calem nodded, and gave her and Rhyhorn one last look before walking off with Serena and Shauna.

"That was pretty sweet Calem, seeing that farewell with your mom and Rhyhorn like that was touching." Shauna said with a small tear in her eye.

Serena spoke up next with a similar touched tone, "Yeah Calem, I didn't have such a sweet parting with my mom and dad."

Calem smiled at them. "Thanks you two. I'll definitely miss mom, but this is a great chance for us, right Fennekin?"

"Fenn-ekin" He barked.

All of them laughed while Calem returned Fennekin to his pokeball and repeated the same routine along the Vaniville path again.

-X-

Once arriving back in Aquacorde town, they spotted Tierno and Trevor next to a shop, with Tierno waving at them. They were currently in the market district of Aquacorde, which was well known for its shops carrying many simple but useful items.

"Hey guys, come over here!" He called to them. They ran over to where the two were standing to find it to be a pokeball shop.

Trevor spoke up this time. "Pokeballs are very useful items for catching pokemon in the wild. Potions are also pretty important for current pokemon since they'll get injured out there. I suggest we all split up so we can get all of the supplies we'll need, I personally want to get to Santalune City by sunset."

He had a point. You have to be well prepared for anything on a journey since they can be so unpredictable.

They all nodded and agreed that Calem, Serena, and Shauna would buy pokeballs while Trevor and Tierno went to buy a few potions. Once that was settled, the three entered the nearby shop to find the aisles filled with pokeballs of different kinds, there were red ones, blue ones, black ones, pokeballs with different patterns, and so many more. All three looked in awe at the many pokeballs on the various shelves. But they quickly snapped out of it to go to the counter to face an adult who appeared to run the shop.

"Hello you three. As you can most likely imagine we specialize in pokeballs at this shop. You'll find a better variety at Lumiouse City, but we'll happily provide you with what you need. So, how can I help you?" He asked with a smile.

Calem turned to Serena who said, "We should just get regular ones, we need to save up for now so we can purchase higher quality ones later, but for now, we just need regulars."

Calem nodded as he returned his gaze to the man at the counter. "We'll take 15 pokeballs, 5 for each of us, so just separately charge us, please."

The man nodded as he received the three's Holo Casters and began scanning each of them, reducing the poke dollars on them to exchange for pokeballs. After he finally scanned Shauna as the last one, he returned each Holo Caster and reached into his counter and took out 15 pokeballs. He gave 5 to each of us and bid farewell.

As they left the pokeball shop, they found Tierno and Trevor waiting outside, having all the potions needed. Informing them of buying and bagging all of the pokeballs needed, and truly began their journey.

They agreed that, for now, they would all travel together to Lumiose City and meet the professor. From Trevor's information, it was only a few days from Aquacorde, and that they had plenty of time so their was no need to rush.

They soon left Aquacorde town and were crossing the bridge, entering route 2. They were reentering the grassy plain along route 2, where they were having small talk with each other as they continued forward.

"So Trevor, Shauna, what are your goals for this journey, you never said?" Calem asked the two.

Shauna was the first one to respond. "Well, I want to have a lot of fun and make plenty of good memories out of this!" she stated happily.

Trevor was next, to whom he responded calmly, "I want to fill up the pokedex to the best of my abilities. It may seem too difficult you might think, but I like a challenge," He said when making a small fist.

"It's true actually. Trevor may be shy around those he doesn't know, but he's always managed to get through obstacles like they were skip rope." Tierno said before giggling to himself.

Serena then turned her gaze to Calem, "What about you Calem? What's your goal in all of this?" She asked.

Calem then turned to her with a blank look. What did he want to do? He never that about what his goal was for this journey and hasn't a clue of what it was.

He then looked at the ground while walking with a sad smile. "I don't really know, I came on this journey so I could find what I wanted in life. I don't even have a clue of where to begin really."

Serena then just stared at him for a moment before smiling at him. "Well don't worry. Not everyone finds their goals at the beginning of their journey, it just takes time. You'll find your goal in this eventually!" She said in a reassuring tone.

Calem looked back at her again and had a confident smile again. "Right."

Soon Shauna came to a stop, and everyone looked back at her to see what was wrong.

"Hey guys? How are we supposed to catch pokemon anyway?" She asked randomly.

When hearing that, Calem and Serena smiled. Looking at each other for a second, they could see that the other knew as well. And so they began to explain.

"Well Shauna, the first thing you need to do is battle a wild pokemon you find. You use any pokemon you have and battle. A wild battle is a bit trickier than a regular one because you don't know what they'll do from hearing a trainer's command." Serena explained the first part when she looked at Calem.

"After you've successfully battled and defeated a wild pokemon, or at least damage it close enough to a good point, you throw your pokeball at it. It'll be absorbed inside and the pokemon will try to break free, but if it's damaged enough, it'll eventually stop shaking and make a click sound, signifying it's capture." Calem explained the second part to her.

Shauna's eyes widened from hearing that, now knowing what to do. "Wow you guys! You two sure know your stuff, especially you Calem!" She praised to them.

Calem then scratched the back of his neck, "Well, I did go to a trainer's school before me and mom moved here, so I know what to do."

"Yeah, and my parents taught me everything I need to know, since they're seasoned trainers after all," Serena said.

Calem looked at her when asking, "Your parents are veterans? I didn't know that."

Serena then blushed slightly before saying, "Yeah, they were quite proud that I was going on a journey now." She then put her arms on her sides and said with a more serious tone. "But, that doesn't have anything to do with me, I have to rely on my own strength and will to pull through."

Shauna then spoke up again, "Do you think I could get a live example on catching a pokemon? You know, so I know exactly what to do."

Calem looked over to her and smiled again, "Sure, in fact, catching a new pokemon is important since a large team helps for a better chance to win. I'll catch one and show you."

At that moment, a chirping sound was heard and they all looked up to find a Fletchling flying overhead, and landing on a nearby branch in a tree a small distance away.

Shauna quickly pulled out her pokedex to scan it as it opened up and revealed Fletchling's image on the front.

_Fletchling: the Robin pokemon_  
_While a Fletchling's chirps are quite beautiful, they will relentlessly attack anyone who enters their territory_.

Shauna returned her pokedex and saw that the Fletchling was looking at each of them, clearly not happy.

"Ummm, why is it looking at us like that?" Shauna asked in a nervous tone.

Calem's eyes narrowed when looking at this pokemon, again, something formed in his being, the same thing when he first met Fennekin. He couldn't tell if this was natural for a trainer, or rare. Either way, he felt that this Fletchling was a prime example for Shauna to learn from.

"It believes we've trespassed into its territory," Calem stated, confirming the pokedex's information. Everyone looked at him as he took out a pokeball. He then looked at Shauna and smiled. "Watch closely Shauna, this is an example of a wild pokemon battle."

"Go Fennekin," he said as the fox pokemon emerged from the pokeball.

"Fennekin," it looked up to see Fletchling up in the tree, ready to attack. Fennekin could clearly see what was going on.

"Alright Fletchling! I challenge you to a battle!" Calem exclaimed as Fletchling flew out of the tree and toward Fennekin when hearing him say that.

Suddenly its beak turned white as it grew closer toward the fox.

"It's going for a peck attack, Calem!" Trevor yelled to him.

"Fennekin, dodge it now!"

Fennekin narrowly dodged the quick peck attack and faced its direction ready for a counter attack.

"Now Fennekin, ember, let's go!"

"Feennekin" he barked as a small fiery wave of heat escaped from its mouth toward Fletchling. Fletchling hastily turned around and easily dodged ember, then quickly flew towards Fennekin and hit him with its wing, causing Fennekin to yell from impact.

Calem gritted his teeth as he saw Fennekin take damage from that. He then saw Fletchling turning around again in the air, and had an idea.

"Alright Fennekin, when Fletchling comes for another attack, I want you to wait until the last second and dodge it, got it?"

"Fenn" it barked, trusting Calem's judgement. Fennekin saw with much anticipation as Fletchling flew back towards him with its beak glowing white again. As Fletchling was mere inches away from him, Fennekin quickly stepped to the right as Fletchling appeared a bit confused from that.

"Now hurry, tackle attack!"

"Ekin" he yelled as he made contact with the opponent. Fletchling lost all balance with its wings and began falling.

"Finish it with ember!"

"Feennekiiin" he barked when releasing the small heat wave and it made contact with the robin pokemon. Fletchling yelped in pain as it continued falling until it contacted the ground, crashing, and seemingly unable to continue.

Calem smirked and received a pokeball from his belt. "Alright then, pokeball go!" He yelled as he threw it at Fletchling.

The pokeball made contact and opened as Fletchling's body became a red energy and entered it before it snapped shut and began shaking. Everyone watched in great anxiousness to see the result, especially Calem who was holding his breath. For about 15 seconds, it continued shaking before it suddenly stopped and clicked.

Calem formed a huge grin as he ran over to the pokeball with Fennekin and picked it up. He looked at it with great pride, he just caught his first pokemon with great success.

"Alright, I just caught Fletchling!" He announced as Fennekin stood next to him barking happily at the victory as Calem lifted the pokeball in the air.

Shauna ran over to Calem with sparkling eyes, clearly in awe of the well demonstrated battle. "That was AMAZING Calem! You caught Fletchling, your first pokemon, and showed me how to do it! Thanks a bunch!" She exclaimed cheerfully as the others, including Calem, sweat dropped.

"You're... welcome, Shauna." He stated before looking at the pokeball and throwing it into the air, releasing Fletchling.

Fletchling appeared to be a little confused about what just happened, when he looked at Calem, no longer angry.

Calem knelt down to Fletchling, "I have a good feeling about you. You gave me a pretty tough battle there, and I think that kind of strength deserves praise. I feel like you'll make an excellent addition to the team Fletchling, so what do you say? Do you want to travel with us and become even stronger?" He asked with clear enthusiasm.

Fletchling stared at him for a second before closing its eyes and chirped, "Fletchling fletch," With excitement in its voice.

And with that, Calem returned both Fennekin and Fletchling to their pokeballs and received praise from the others for his first capture. And so, they all continued onward to Santalune City, but first, they would have to go through Santalune Forest.

* * *

_Aaaand, cut, a nice job in my opinion. I will continue to work on this, but I haven't fully completed chapter 3 at the moment, so you'll have to wait._

_So, comment and suggest in the review box, and I will see you guys later!_


	3. Chapter 3: A Santaluney Forest Stroll

Chapter 3: A Santaluney Forest Stroll

_Hello fanfiction readers, this is AK123, and writing fanfiction is my destiny! I'm back for another_ _chapter of Pokemon X Kalos Journey, sorry for the wait, but you must understand that my computer's internet access to fanfiction and everything else, is simply bad._

_Anyway, I'm going to continue writing these chapters up the best I can. Expect a few changes and differences to this story compared to the actual game, since I'll be adding a few extras here and there. Also, the battle scenes won't be as exciting as you find in other stories for a awhile, but please understand that I just got on here and am still honing my development skills in my writing._

_But, it will catch your interest nonetheless, so enjoy the new chapter!_

* * *

Calem, Shauna, Serena, Trevor, and Tierno were just entering Santalune Forest. It appeared to be quite thick, it had a road to make sure people wouldn't get lost, the surrounding area was also surrounded with many bushes and tall grass. Trevor explained to everyone how this forest was a natural habitat for pokemon and a great place for catching a few.

"Hmm, well, we could get to Santalune city either way no matter which path we take, so what's the plan guys?" Trevor asked. Everyone just scratched the back of their heads as they thought of the options. They wanted to make the most out of the experience, so choosing was a bit difficult.

In front of them was a split path leading left and right. From what he said, each path would lead them to Santalune City no matter what, and the 5 of them were deciding of how to proceed.

Suddenly Calem snapped his fingers, "I've got the solution!" as everyone turned to him, interested to hear his opinion. "Well, since there are only two paths to choose from, and we want to experience Santalune Forest's pokemon, I suggest we split up into two teams and each take a path. Both teams can take the chance to see all of the pokemon here and other notable things. And besides, we can always come back afterwards to explore."

Everyone seemed impressed on how Calem formulated the clever idea for splitting up. Tierno and Trevor looked at each other and smiled. Then Tierno turned to them to speak.

"Alright, me and Trevs will be one team as we go left, since we took the right path on our way over to Aquacorde." Suddenly though, he had a blank stare on his face before continuing. "But one team will have only two while the other has three, so who gets three?" Everyone thought for a moment before Shauna broke the silence.

"Well I'll go with Calem!" She exclaimed. "I feel going with him will show me everything I need to know on this journey." She appeared to have made up her mind so one really argued with her about that, but then everyone turned to Serena to see what her decision was. She gave them all a smile before facing Calem and Shauna.

"Well, I think I'll go with Calem and Shauna. They are my neighbors after all, and I suppose we should stay together." They both smiled warmly at her, though mentally wondering why she kept calling them 'neighbor'. Everyone seemed to have made their choices, so Calem, Serena, and Shauna went down the right fork, while Tierno and Trevor went down the other.

-X-

Santalune Forest was a place to behold as the 3 three of them walked down the dirt path. This place was quite thick, teeming with pokemon of many types, and relatively safe at the same time. They could see a few Pidgey flying overhead, a couple of Caterpie crawling along the branches of the trees above. The forest itself was quite beautiful and filled with perfectly brown-bark trees, elegantly blooming flowers, and just everything around them that was radiating life. They were practically bathing in nature!

Calem was thinking to himself on catching one of these many different pokemon. Each and every one of them seemed like a fine choice, he didn't really care what type they were or what they were capable of. He knew that every pokemon in the world had the strength and willpower to become strong, whether it be a legendary Dragonite, or a seemingly worthless Magicarp.

Serena was contemplating those actions too. She knew that she would need to maintain a steady and balanced team if she was to ever become a great trainer. She knew quite well since it was one of the many things that she was taught from her parents. "_Remember Serena! Your pokemon need to be well balanced and coordinated in order for you to become a great pokemon trainer someday!"_ Her mother's passionate, but serious tone replayed in her head. "_She's right Serena. We were pokemon trainer's too, you know. Unfortunately for us though, we had to learn the hard way!"_ Serena giggled quietly to herself quietly.

Shauna was basically looking all around her, turning her head left and right all around her at the many sights of pokemon in her wake. "_Okay, I could catch a Pidgey, they look like the cutest feathery things around! Or maybe even one of those cutie-woodie Weedle" _To her, there was just no way to choose,so she just kept thinking while they were walking.

While everyone was thinking to themselves of what to do, they didn't know that a set of eyes were watching them from a short distance.

Serena stopped as she looked up into the trees. Calem and Shauna, taking notice of their friend stopping, turned around with curious glances at the honey haired girl.

When they met her gaze, she opted for them to look in the direction she was looking. As they did, they understood what she was glancing at on one of the nearby branches. On the branch was a small Pidgey, appearing to be scuffing out something from its wing like usual flying types do when they catch something in flight.

Pidgey was a usually quite small, bird pokemon. It had generally brown fur on the backside of its body, with a much lighter shade on the throat and stomach. It had brown tail feathers with black markings around its eyes and a small crest of brown above it. It also had a light pink beak and feet, with three claws attached to each.

Serena took out her pokedex, despite knowing about Pidgey since they were one of the most common pokemon in the world, but she knew better than to leave unsaid information. It opened with the upper and lower screens opening up, and the electronic female voice activating.

"_Pidgey, the tiny bird pokemon. A common sight in forests and woods, it flaps its wings at ground level to kick up blinding sand. Pidgey are considered a good capture for beginning trainers."_

Serena smirked at the unsuspecting Pidgey as she took out Froakie's pokeball, and returned it to regular ball form.

Calem and Shauna now understood what her intentions were. She was no doubt planning to catch that Pidgey. After all, the pokedex _did_ suggest it since it was supposed to be a good choice for a beginning trainer. But they would see if she was a beginner or not.

"Alright Froakie, let's do this." Serena yelled out. Soon, Froakie appeared out of the thrown pokeball in a silvery white energy, and was standing on its four legs with its normal, blank stare. It soon got into serious mode as it saw the Pidgey in the tree, and knew what this was about.

"Froakie, use bubbles on it with the element of surprise!"

Froakie smirked at the mention of 'surprise', and immediately opened its mouth to release dozens of speedy bubbles towards the unsuspecting tiny bird pokemon. Pidgey soon took notice of the jet of bubbles coming right towards it, but it was already too late to act. The bubbles made contact with it and left it all wet. Well, whatever was in its feathers was surely gone now, most likely due to the fact that it was soaking wet. It glared angrily down at the bubble frog and simultaneously took to the air.

Serena smirked since she got its attention. "Okay, use tackle, now!"

Froakie used its four legs to jump to a pretty impressive height as it began colliding with Pidgey. Alarmed by the pretty good speed of its attacker, Pidgey barely had time to dodge as it was slammed head on by the tackle.

As Froakie was falling back to the ground, Pidgey regained its composure and dived down close to the ground, before slightly ascending again to which it neared Froakie's landing position. It then flapped up its wings pretty hard as Froakie was taking the full force of the fairly powerful gust attack... and the sand that came along with it.

"Uh oh, just like the pokedex said, its building up sand in its gust to blind Froakie!" Calem stated, with a hint of worry in his voice.

But Serena just kept her smirk as Pidgey began flying away. "Not so fast! Froakie, use some of your bubbles to wash the sand off!"

Froakie nodded in its blurry state, and pointed its head up as he was blowing out a few non forceful bubbles. It started to work, as they fell down on Froakie, and washing the sand out of its eyes. Shaking off the remaining water on himself, Froakie looked up to see the fleeing Pidgey.

"Alright, before it gets away, use your frubbles to immobilize it!" She ordered.

Froakie nodded, then jumped up into the air, within firing distance from Pidgey, before grabbing the bubble substance around its neck and throwing some of them to its direction. Being flung with enough force, the frubbles caught up with Pidgey and as soon as made contact, stuck to its feathers like bubble gum under a school desk. Losing its balance, Pidgey fell rather quickly as it reached the ground, unable to move from its position.

Sensing victory close at hand, Serena gave the order to end it all. "Finish it with bubbles!"

Froakie obliged, and, while in midair, began spitting out countless bubbles at its stationary opponent, who could only watch in fear. One by one, each bubble popped harshly at the defenseless bird until it simply lay there. When Froakie felt its victory was achieved, he stopped and allowed Serena to take care of the rest.

She reached for the belt that was attached to her miniskirt when she grabbed one of her minimized pokeballs, before she pressed the button and expanding it. "Time for you to be all mine, pokeball go!" She yelled.

The ball threw right out of her hands as it accelerated through the air at her defeated opponent. As soon as it made contact, Pidgey was drawn inside the pokeball as a red colored energy. When it hit the ground, it started shaking slightly as usual. Each of them looked at it while holding their breath, anxious to see the results.

After a good 30 seconds, even though it felt like a few minutes, the ball finally clicked, the battle was over.

Serena smirked at her accomplishment and walked to the pokeball. When reaching it, she picked it up and grinned widely. "Alright, my first capture!" She announced while lifting in leg behind her in a slightly girlish way. Froakie stood right beside her, proud of its first battle as a near flawless victory.

Calem and Shauna ran up to her with similar smiles. "Awesome Serena! You did great, that Pidgey never stood a chance!" Shauna cheered to her.

Calem appeared equally impressed. "Yeah, good thinking with using Froakie's frubbles to immobilize Pidgey to create an opening like that. A good way to make use of your pokemon's abilities!" Calem praised, having a completely honest and inspired tone.

Serena smiled warmly at both of them. "Thanks you two." Then she looked down at Froakie. "But, we all know that if it weren't for this little guy right here, I couldn't have done it." Froakie simply smiled warmly back to her, appreciative of his trainer's modest personality.

They were both cut out, however, when they saw a similar aged boy approaching them. He looked to be in his early teens, with a yellow shirt and camo shorts and red sneakers. He had brown hair and eyes, with two pokeballs attached to his belt. He looked at them with an eager face and a confident smirk.

"Hey you three! You guys look like pokemon trainers too, so I was thinking maybe we could have a battle! What do you say, my Scatterbug's been itching for a fight!" He exclaimed, with clear and enthusiastic excitement in his voice. His attention was mostly focused on Calem and Serena.

When the two of them looked at each other, they saw the eagerness in the other's eyes, and nodded. Calem looked at the boy again, "Okay, we'll both battle you, one on one each. Anyway, my name is Calem!"

"And mine is Serena!" She informed also.

The boy smirked even more now. "Joey's the name! And I accept the terms for the battle." The boy named Joey ran a few yards away before taking position as Calem and Serena did the same.

Joey grabbed one of his pokeballs off of his belt, and threw it. "Alright Scatterbug, show 'em your stuff!"

From the silvery white energy that emerged from the pokeball, came a small, bug type pokemon. it had a large head with a vertical line emerging from the back of its head ending at its mouth, which had only one tooth. Scatterbug had large khaki-colored eyes with square pupils. It had 3 white hairs growing from the back of its head, and the rest of its body had no legs, instead an abdomen with two stubby circle shaped legs on each segment of it, and a white ruff of fur from its neck. It appeared quite fired up for a battle just by looking at it.

Calem and Serena had a bit of knowledge of this pokemon, it was basically the Kalos region's specific caterpillar bug type pokemon, just like Caterpie was for Kanto, and Wormple for Hoenn. Nonetheless, Serena tried out her pokedex to acquire some information on it.

_"Scatterbug, the scatterdust pokemon. When under attack from a bird pokemon, it spews a poisonous black powder that causes paralysis on contact."_

As Serena returned her pokedex, Calem looked at her when he smiled. "You can go first, give Pidgey a chance to go show its stuff."

Serena nodded, she lifted the pokeball she just used and threw it. "Pidgey, take down that bug!"

Pidgey emerged from the ball, flapping its wings in the air, ready for battle. It took one look at Scatterbug below and went into 'predator' mode.

"Okay Pidgey, use quick attack!" Serena instructed. Pidgey began diving down at the scatterdust pokemon at a great speed while engulfed in a white outline.

"Scatterbug, intercept it with tackle!" Scatterbug began moving as fast as its round legs would allow, and speeding towards Pidgey. As they neared, Scatterbug jumped up to meet the attack, and used its head and pushing forward. Both attacks collided with each other, seemingly at a stalemate, before sliding past one another and ending up on the opposite side of their trainer's positions.

"Okay Pidgey, use gust to send it flying!" Pidgey started flapping its wings again as the wind was building up and heading right to Scatterbug.

But Joey only smirked. "Okay Scatterbug. Use string shot on that tree to avoid gust!" Scatterbug shot out a sticky string like substance that attached to the tree Joey pointed at. When it made contact, Scatterbug jetted to the tree and attached just as the gust hit its previous spot. When Pidgey tried using gust on the tree Scatterbug was on, it didn't budge because it was using string shot to hold on tightly.

Eventually, Pidgey began to tire out from her useless attempt to even budge Scatterbug. "Now, use string shot into tackle!" Joey instructed. Scatterbug soon spat out another string shot, but this time it grabbed Pidgey, and so it was unable to escape from the tackle that hit her.

Serena grit her teeth from the losing battle. Joey was proving to be a pretty good strategist, and it didn't help that she just caught Pidgey, and so it could be tired. However, as Scatterbug began retreating back to the ground, she noticed some string shot was left on Pidgey from before, and a plan formulated in her head.

"Pidgey, use the leftover string shot to grab Scatterbug." Serena ordered.

Joey gasped as Pidgey used her wings to grab the string shot and send it right back to its maker. Scatterbug was helpless to protect itself as string shot wrapped itself up (ironic really) and Pidgey retracting it back.

"Now, use consecutive peck attacks on Scatterbug" Pidgey used her beak to peck Scatterbug multiple times, her 'prey' unable to break free, and was losing its strength from the super effective attack. Joey could only watch in horror, his pokemon unable to counter attack. He wanted to win, but he knew when enough was enough.

"Okay, okay! I give, Scatterbug can't take much more anyway." Joey then took out his partner's pokeball and returned it with a red energy as Pidgey was just removing the white sticky substance. "... We know when we're beat."

Serena was quiet for a moment, before a triumphant smile graced her lips. "Alright! Our first trainer battle a success!" She cheered, as Pidgey added "Pidge"

Calem walked up next to her and gave her a high five. "Great job Serena! You did outstanding, countering Scatterbug with its own attack." He then chuckled at the irony. "Now it's my turn." He took out the pokeball with Fletchling inside of it.

Serena returned the gesture. "Thanks Calem! Good luck with your own battle." She then walked away back to where Shauna was and was praising her.

Joey took out his second pokeball as he returned Scatterbug's. "Let's see what you can do with my next pokemon."

Calem did the same and nodded. "Right."

"Go, pokeball!" They both announced. From Calem's came out his newest catch. "Fletchling" Surprisingly though, the same thing came out of Joey's ball too. On both sides emerged a Fletchling, both taking to the air.

Joey seemed a bit surprised. "Well I'll be. We both have a Fletchling, that means it'll be an air battle." Then his confident smile returned. "Let's see who's is stronger!"

Calem mentally agreed, before issuing his first command. "Fletchling, use quick attack, now!"

"Fletchling, you use quick attack too!" Joey commanded.

Both Fletchling outlined themselves in the white energy and started colliding with each other. Both of them hit the other, after a few moments, they slided past each other, ending it in a stalemate. However, both quickly made a U, ready for the next strike.

Calem wasn't about to give his opponent the momentum to quickly attack. "Perform multiple quick attacks on it!"

Joey, however, quickly issued his next command. "You do the same Fletchling!"

Both Fletchling slashed each other with each time they made contact, continuously ending in a fast stalemate. Calem was starting to sweat a bit, this was not getting anywhere, and the more time he just kept them attack each other, the more time it would give to Joey for a clever strategy like with Serena.

"Okay Fletchling, go again, quick attack!" Calem instructed.

"You too Fletchling!" Joey yelled. Calem knew he had to counter eventually. But the time had to be perfect, he had to find the right opportunity to attack and end this battle before Joey found the right chance to strike. Then it suddenly hit him, Joey was only expecting him to counter each and every attack Calem made. So that means if he were to do something different...

Calem smirked as the Fletchling were fast approaching the other. "Now Fletchling, combine peck with quick attack!"

Joey had no time to counter the sudden new attack command as Calem's Fletchling's beak glowed a whitish color and slashed his own. His Fletchling was descending rapidly, since there was more momentum and power behind his opponent's attack. Calem's was just turning around and flying at a rapid speed as he caught up with Fletchling.

Calem was now guaranteed with victory now. "Finish it with wing attack at full power!" This battle was over. This time Fletchling's wings glowed white, and approached at high speed. Fletchling slashed his wing against his own 'brother,' who yelped in pain from the attack, made contact with the ground rather harshly as a thick cloud of dust kicked around its crash.

Fletchling returned to Calem and gracefully landed on his arm, before chirping happily of his victory. As the dust cleared, however, Joey's Fletchling was not so fortunate. It appeared completely knocked out from the attack and simply laid there, defeated.

Joey sighed as he returned Fletchling to his pokeball, and lifted it up to his face with a sad smile. "Great job Fletchling, you may have lost hard, but you fought hard too. Take a good rest!" Then he walked over to Calem's side of the battlefield and extended his arm to him. "And thank you for a great battle. You and Serena showed me that I still have a lot of work to do."

Calem stared at Joey for a moment, before smiling and returning the gesture by shaking his hand. "Thanks Joey! And you were great too. You just need to improve your strategy a little better and you'll be a force to be reckoned with."

Serena stepped in to speak also. "Yeah, keep on training, and you'll end up a great trainer!"

Joey nodded at the both of them and formed his hand in a fist. "Yeah, I'll work harder, and become just as strong as you too." Then he turned toward the direction of Santalune City, but looked at both of them one more time. "But first I've gotta get these two to the pokemon center. I'll catch you guys around!" Joey then began running off in that direction, leaving just the three of them again.

Shauna ran up to them with an exciting face, as usual. "Awesome battle you two! At some points it looked like you were gonna lose, but nope, you just managed to turn a near loss to a huge win!" She congratulated them.

"Yes, indeed. That was quite a victory you both pulled off."

All of them stopped and looked into the direction the voice came from. In that direction stood a man in his 20's they believed, wearing the standard ranger uniform which consisted of an orange and black colored hat and boots, wearing the official pokemon ranger insignia. He also wore and orange vest with black undershirt underneath. He had brown colored eyes with dark, blonde hair.

The man began to walk up to them before continuing his declaration. "With time and training, you could become great trainers someday" The man stopped right in front of them, and extended his hand to them. "My name is Steven."

Calem and Serena returned the handshake before Calem spoke up again. "Nice to meet you Steven. Wow, an actual ranger, my name is..."

"Calem if I heard correctly." The man named Steven interrupted. He then looked at the two girls. "And both of your names are Serena and Shauna. I just got your names from when you introduced yourselves before the battle, and Shauna from when you entered the forest."

Serena looked at him with a shocked expression. "Wait a minute. Were you following us?" She asked. If he knew their names from before, then that was the only explanation to how he knew. Calem also had a suspicious look on his face as both of them turned to Steven.

Steven then began to scratch the back of his neck before continuing. "Yes... but only because it's my duty as a pokemon ranger to keep track of everyone who comes along through places like these." That seemed to satisfied the glares of the two teens, but Shauna still appeared confused.

She then turned toward Calem and Serena. "What exactly is a pokemon ranger?" She asked the two of them.

Calem was the first one to speak to answer that question. "Well, a pokemon ranger is sort of like an official protector of pokemon habitats. They're instructed to protect places heavily populated by pokemon, such as Santalune Forest here, or places with rare and valuable pokemon. Trainers are allowed to catch the pokemon as long as rangers permit it, but if the type of pokemon is like, for example, near extinct or something, they're in charge of protecting said pokemon."

Serena was the next one to supposedly tutor Shauna as all of them started to walk in the direction out of the forest. "Pokemon rangers are also in charge of dealing with natural disasters around the world involving pokemon. Sometimes it could even involve a legendary pokemon who deal with the elements of the planet, such as Articuno, or even as far as Celebi. They have a huge responsibility of law enforcement for trainers and any pokemon."

"Exactly, which is what I'm here doing right now." Steven added. "Me and my sister, Lucy, were assigned here to make sure nothing wild happens with the pokemon here that involves violence. Not pokemon catching of course, any trainer is free to catch a few here. What I'm talking about is pokemon poaching, in which someone selfishly attempts to disrupt the natural order here by stealing the pokemon." He then looked at each of us with a soft smile. "So, what are you kids doing here."

Serena was the one this time to answer. "We're on our journey, we just left Vaniville Town earlier at around noon. We're on our way to Santalune City right now as our next step." She informed the pokemon ranger.

Steven appeared happy with the answer as he stopped and looked up. "Good, that means you can come out now. They're not bad people, so come down here!" He called to seemingly no one in particular.

Just as the group was going to ask him who he was talking to, a small pokemon emerged from the trees above and landed on his shoulder. It was similar to Scatterbug, but this time it was green instead of black, and it's pupils were a normal round instead of square. It had an abdomen as well, with similar stubby legs, and a pink, Y shaped arch.

"This is Caterpie, a good friend of mine," Steven introduced. Caterpie looked at them for a moment before giving a happy moan.

Shauna then walked up to it and began petting it, in which it gave an approved moan, even louder and cuter than before. Shauna just squealed at its cuteness. "Ohhhh, it's just so cute! Is it your pokemon?" She asked.

Steven shook his head though. "No, you see, when I first got assigned to Santalune Forest a few days ago, I was having my lunch break. Then, from out of nowhere, I saw this little guy waddling along, and it saw me. It appeared to be a bit hungry and so I offered one of my sandwiches to him, and it took it with gratitude. The next day, I noticed that he started following me later that afternoon, and so we become friends!"

Caterpie nodded his head in agreement, while the others appeared fascinated by the sweet story. Steven turned to Caterpie and gave a soft smile, in which he returned. Then, Steven turned to everyone else. "So, are you three also searching to catch a pokemon?" He asked them.

Calem was the one to answer. "Well, Serena just caught her Pidgey right before the battle with Joey, Shauna still hasn't caught one yet, and me? I'm considering catching another one, but I've already just caught Fletchling so I don't know."

Steven then put his hand on Calem's shoulder. "Not to worry, you're free to catch pokemon anytime here, no rush!"

Before Calem could respond, however, Steven could sense tension on his shoulder. When he turned to look, he saw Caterpie looking very tense, with hints of fear on his face. The others noticed too, and looked at him with worry.

"What's wrong Caterpie?" Caterpie nudged his head towards the direction left of them, off of the road. When everyone looked in the direction he was pointing at, they saw an open clearing. In that clearing was a large rock perched in the middle, but what it was seemingly afraid of was on top of it. It was a small pokemon, yellow in color, and had yellow fur with three brown, outlined spots on its back. Its body was in the shape of a mouse, having four small legs and long yellow ears, with a black color tipped on each end, and a large tail in the shape of a lightning bolt. On its face was a small brown nose, and red cheek pouches. It was just sleeping peacefully in the middle of the rock in a cute, snuggled way, but apparently frightening the caterpillar pokemon.

Everyone except for Steven and Caterpie had confused faces upon seeing the thing that was tensing Caterpie. "A Pikachu?" Calem asked, clearly dumbstruck of what was wrong.

Calem took out his pokedex, despite knowing what it was, could use the information. It opened in the usual upper and lower half way, displaying this time two Pikachu, instead of one.

_"Pikachu, the electric mouse pokemon. The source of their electricity are the red pouches on its cheeks, whenever threatened, they will release their electricity at their enemy."_

Shauna looked at the pokedex in confusion, specifically the image brought up to display Pikachu's information. "Um, why does it display two Pikachu? And also why does one of them have a different tail than the other?"

"Because of different genders." Steven stated. Everyone looked at him as he explained without moving his eyes away from Pikachu. "A male Pikachu, like this one, will have a tail in the shape of a regular lightning bolt. While a female Pikachu's tail will be mostly the same, except at the end of it is a V shaped point instead."

He finally removed his eyes from the electric mouse back to the teens. "But this Pikachu is one me and Caterpie know all too well." He stated. "This Pikachu is a battler by heart, challenging any foe it can find. It has an almost bad habit of challenging any one of the pokemon living here, and most of the time ending up victorious. Sometimes he's even challenged Caterpie to a battle and has always won." Caterpie nodded its head slowly, but surely at Steven's explanation.

The teens looked back at the Pikachu in disbelief. That little guy was a battler? It just appeared cute and innocent from what they were seeing from the distance they were from Pikachu. But, if Caterpie was fearful of this Pikachu, then it must have been true. Steven just continued.

"But, he hasn't done anything against the code, and so I'm unable to do anything about him..." He turned towards Calem and Shauna specifically this time. "...Unless a certain trainer would want to catch said pokemon." Calem and Shauna were a bit shocked, Steven was indirectly asking one of them to catch the mischievous little Pikachu. It would make sense however. The trouble in this forest would drop considerably if they were to catch and take Pikachu along on their journey.

Shauna took a look at Pikachu sleeping on the rock. He looked adorable to her, the cutest pokemon she's seen so far, and having him come along with her would probably be a dream come true. But, for once, she needed to think straight about this. If she took Pikachu along with her, it would make the cutest addition to her team, but from what Steven just told him, it had had a tendency to want to battle, did she really want that? And who knows, if she took him, he may not like her, and could hurt her, and from the pokedex said Pikachu could use its electricity to...

"_Ahhhh, I wouldn't want that! I can only imagination the pain of being electrified!" _She then looked at Calem who was still looking at Pikachu. She tried to keep her best face on after thinking about the grueling possibility. "You know what Calem?" Everyone looked at her. "I think Pikachu would be better off in your hands. He is cute, but I don't think I'd want to get zapped for it!" She said, her full opinion on the matter.

Calem and Serena looked pretty impressed, so far Shauna has never been one to think things through, but now she's stated that she didn't want Pikachu to electrify her for him. Yeah she thought it through this time. Everyone looked at him for what his decision was.

Calem sighed for a moment, before looking up again with a determined grin, "Alright, I'll catch Pikachu! If he's everything you've said about him being a great battler, he'll be a welcomed addition to the team."

Steven smiled at Calem for his decision. "Thank you Calem! I'm confident you can do it and tame the little guy."

Facing Pikachu's direction once again, the four of them ran towards the rock Pikachu was laying on. Pikachu's ears suddenly picked up, and instantly got up to see 4 humans coming his way. Especially the pokemon ranger with the Caterpie on his shoulders. Pikachu smirked and leaped off of the rock and landed on his hind legs, being able to stand on two.

So much for the element of surprise, they thought. As they stopped, they saw that Pikachu's cheeks were beginning to spark with electricity, going into 'battle mode.' Calem then took out Fennekin's pokeball and threw it as it activated in the air. Popping out of the pokeball, the fox pokemon landed on its four legs and saw Pikachu ready to attack any moment.

"Alright Pikachu, I challenge you to a battle with Fennekin here! I'm going to end your winning streak right here, and your going to become a part of my team. Are you ready?" Calem said to it.

Pikachu just kept looking at him for a moment, before nodding his head and smirking. He got onto all four legs again, and sprinted towards Fennekin at super high speed, leaving a white outline in his wake.

"_That's quick attack."_ Calem thought. "Alright Fennekin, dodge it!"

Fennekin waited a few seconds as Pikachu fast approached him, before getting out of his way by jumping up. Landing back on his feet, Fennekin faced the direction Pikachu sped past.

Calem smirked. "Now, use ember to stop him in his tracks!" Fennekin obliged, and opened his mouth to release many fire like bullets at his opponent. But Pikachu had other ideas. Still in quick attack mode, Pikachu turned around sharply and narrowly avoided the embers flying past him, before speeding at Fennekin and slamming into him. Fennekin cried out as he was knocked off of his feet and landed just a few feet away from Serena, Shauna, and Steven. Pikachu then stopped quick attack and jumped a good 15 feet into the air, before surrounding himself in electricity with his electric pouches, and launching it at Fennekin. It was a thunder chock, and it had a wide enough radius to hit all of them.

Steven's eyes widened and he realized what would happen if that were to hit. "Move!" He yelled, as he pushed Serena and Shauna out of the blast sight. As it made contact with the ground, the thunder shock drew up a huge dust cloud and forced up a small shock wave. Fennekin was fortunate to have made it out unscathed. However, Caterpie was forced off of Steven's shoulders from the shock wave and landed on the grass.

Pikachu mentally cursed to himself since his attack missed, but recomposed himself when he saw that Caterpie had been forced onto the ground. He smirked once again as he saw an opportunity to take down the caterpillar pokemon. He began surrounding himself in the electrical aura emanating from his electric cheeks, this time everyone was ready for an attack. What they weren't expecting however was that they were not his intended target, instead, he was aiming right for Caterpie.

Caterpie only looked up in horror as Pikachu was about to launch another thunder shock, but this time at him. He closed his eyes and awaited the results in just a few short moments.

Shauna was in a mental conflict with herself. Caterpie was under the mercy of Pikachu, and if no one did anything, Caterpie would get electrocuted. She made her choice. Forcing herself out of Steven's grip, and began sprinting as fast as her legs would allow towards the bug type. "Caterpie!" She yelled.

"Shauna, no!" Steven yelled, but to no avail. Everyone watched in shock as she was jeopardizing her own safety to save Caterpie. As the thunder shock was only a mere few feet away, Shauna performed a barrel roll and managed to grab Caterpie and barely avoid the electric attack. The result was once again a large dust cloud which forced Shauna to roll away with Caterpie.

When she finally stopped, Shauna shakily got up with Caterpie in her arms. Caterpie then slowly opened his eyes up again, surprised to not find himself barbecued. He then looked up to see the worried eyes of Shauna. "Are you alright Caterpie? That was a close one." She asked him.

Caterpie then moaned gratefully to Shauna, very happy to say he was alright. If it wasn't for her narrowly coming in to save him, he would have been electrocuted, something to be very grateful to.

Calem and everyone else could breathe again. That _was _a close one. If Shauna had just been a second or two late, both of them would've been fried. Then, Calem looked to see that Pikachu had just landed back onto the ground, breathing quite heavily. Those last two thunder shocks must have drained most of his energy. It knew that it couldn't win in this condition, so he had only one choice even though he didn't like it. Retreat.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Everyone looked to find that Pikachu was leaving his previous spot and fleeing towards the tree branches. "You're not getting away from me! Come on Fennekin." Fennekin nodded and followed him along the path of trees that Pikachu took. Serena, Shauna, and Steven went in the same direction.

Calem was not going to allow Pikachu to get away now. He worked too hard in that battle, and after seeing it attack Caterpie like that, he was determined to catch it. They finally got Pikachu in sight again, who was jumping from branch, not as fast as usual since he was most likely exhausted from all of this. The others were soon right behind him as well.

"Fennekin, climb into the trees and catch up to Pikachu!" Fennekin obliged, and jumped onto Calem's arm, before he flinged him onto the trees and began chasing Pikachu from behind.

Fennekin was just as determined as Calem was now, Pikachu was their next objective, their next task. He wasn't going to let his trainer down. Because Fennekin wasn't as tired as Pikachu probably was from all of the battling, he eventually caught up and was merely a few feet behind him.

Calem smiled proudly at his partner, willing to go to such lengths to help him catch Pikachu. But he'd have to save his praise later, for now, they had a battle to finish. "Now Fennekin, use tackle to force Pikachu out of the trees!"

Pikachu was soon knocked out of the trees from Fennekin's tackle attack, and landed on the main forest road, right on his stomach.

Calem and the others reached him, to find that he still had a bit of fight left in him. Fennekin jumped back onto the ground in front of his trainer. Suddenly, off on the other side of the road, Tierno and Trevor came into sight, along with another person. It was a woman, in her 20's just like Steven, she looked a lot like him in fact. She had the same outfit as him, the orange ranger hat with insignia, a zipped up vest, with red boots. And just like Steven, she had dark blond hair with brown eyes.

They stopped just a few yards when Pikachu as they saw what was going on. "Finish up your battle, we'll talk afterwards!" The woman told them.

Calem nodded, looking back to Fennekin who nodded back. "Okay Fennekin, let's finish this up! Use ember, full blast!" He commanded. Once again, Fennekin opened his mouth, but instead of just the normal, small fire bullets, they looked like flaming fireballs.

As a last resort, Pikachu charged up the last of his electricity and launched a full power thunder shock, aiming it right at the fireballs. Both attacks collided with one another, causing a small shock wave to push back everyone but Calem, who wasn't about to flinch. They were both at a stalemate, not one side daring to lost their momentum, and kept up the attacks.

"Come on Fennekin, you can do it, just a little bit more and victory is ours!" He encouraged. Fennekin was his friend, and as his friend, he knew that he would give everything he had.

"Fennn-eekiiiin!" The fireballs began to slowly push back the powerful electric attack. Pikachu was helpless to stop it, and with just about all of his energy gone, ceased the attack. The fireballs were now free, and charged straight at the electric mouse. Pikachu felt no fear, no worry, simply defeat. The battle was over.

"Pikkka" it yelled as the fire attack hit him. The result of the attack created a small explosion, causing everyone to fall backwards from the column of smoke.

As the smoke cleared, everyone first saw Fennekin standing proudly, but still breathing heavily from the amount of power used. Everyone was waiting to see the fate of Pikachu as the cloud slowly dissipated.

Soon, he could be seen. Everyone gasped with amazement to see him still standing, Breathing slowly, but deeply. How could it have survived an attack like that and still be standing. Pikachu looked like it could barely move now though, it was to be expected at the very least after that ferocious attack.

But Calem wasn't about to give him any time to recover, and so he took out his pokeball. "Alright, it's time Pikachu, go pokeball!" He yelled. The pokeball flew out of his hands and towards the still Pikachu. Pikachu showed no signs of evading, no struggle, in fact, he smiled. He had put everything he had into this battle, and had made careless mistakes, and so he was going to be caught by this trainer, and he was alright with that.

As soon as it made contact, the pokeball sucked Pikachu inside with the red energy, and soon closed up. As it fell to the ground, it began shaking softly like normal. Everyone held their breath to see if Pikachu was going to pop out again, still ready to battle. But it never came.

The pokeball finally made that click noise to tell that it was all over. Pikachu was caught. A huge smile came across Calem's face as he ran up to the pokeball with Fennekin. He then picked it up and looked at it for a moment. This was a hard battle, one that Pikachu made him really have to fight for. This was a catch that he was proud of, and he deserved it. "Alright, we just caught Pikachu!" Calem yelled, with Fennekin barking happily next to him.

-X-

All of them were now standing at the northern edge of Santalune Forest. After Calem had caught Pikachu, Steven and the woman that was with Tierno and Trevor were more than happy to escort them out.

Speaking of that woman, Tierno and Trevor had explained that they had met the woman along the path after defeating a trainer and her two pokemon, and that she had appeared afterward. And, as it turned out, the woman was actually Lucy, Steven's sister, it didn't seem too surprising since they looked quite identical to each other.

"Thanks again Steven, Lucy!" Calem said to them. Everyone was also thanking them for their supporting them through and out of the forest, and they owed them a sense of gratitude.

But Lucy just waved it off. "You don't have to thank us, in fact, we should be thanking you." She said to them, mostly to Calem. "Without you, Pikachu would probably still be a powerhouse around here and cause more trouble. But with you catching him, the pokemon here in the forest can rest easy, and hopefully will develop a better behavior. Now, promise me that you'll take good care of Pikachu, okay?"

Calem nodded. "I promise." And with that, everyone here could live better.

Steven smiled at him. "Thank you Calem. Now I suppose it's time to say goodbye then, isn't it?" He asked, with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Trevor was the one to answer. "Yes, I'm afraid so. We have to move on, but we'll remember you well! Right guys?" He asked to everyone.

"Of course!" Serena responded

"Absolutely!" Shauna exclaimed.

"You bet!" Calem said with a thumb up.

"Right!" Tierno said.

"Well then, bye and take care."

And with that, the group began to walk off out of the forest. Before they could leave, however, they heard a sad moan behind them. They turned around to see that Caterpie, still on Steven's shoulder, jumped down and crawled over to them. He stopped in front of Shauna to look up into her with a sad expression.

"What's wrong Caterpie?" Shauna asked the caterpillar pokemon. Steven suddenly chuckled and everyone looked up to see him and Lucy walk up to them.

"I believe Caterpie wants to go with you Shauna." Steven said to her. Shauna looked down again to see Caterpie nod and rub against Shauna's legs.

"But, don't I have to battle him?" She asked, confused of what she was supposed to do.

"Not necessarily." Everyone looked to see Calem walk up in front of Shauna and Caterpie. "If a pokemon wants to go with you, you don't have to battle with it. He probably wants to go with you because you saved him from Pikachu's thunder shock earlier. Am I right?" Caterpie nodded again and looked back up to Shauna.

Shauna suddenly smiled widely at that and immediately took out one of her empty pokeballs. "Well who am I to deny you? Of course you can come along!" And with that, she tapped Caterpie on his head as he was absorbed inside. The pokeball quickly clicked since Caterpie showed no signs of struggle.

Shauna got up from her crouching position and lifted her pokeball in the air while spinning. "Yeah, I caught Caterpie!" She exclaimed.

Everyone smiled warmly at her cheerfulness. The day has certainly proven quite adventurous. First Serena, then Calem, and finally Shauna caught their new pokemon this day, Pidgey, Pikachu, and Caterpie. They had met two pokemon rangers by the names of Steven and Lucy who taught them much during their short visit to Santalune Forest. And with that, it wraps up their adventures through Santalune Forest as they move onward to Santalune City.

* * *

_And cut! I really hope all of you have enjoyed chapter 3, and will continue along the ride of Pokemon X Kalos Journey. Again, I am very sorry about the long wait, but school is nearly over for me in less than a week, so that should give me more time to work on this._

_And yeah, Serena got Pidgey, Shauna got Caterpie, and Calem got Pikachu. I gave Pikachu to Calem because, well, he's our favorite and the pokemon star of the show! I also hope you like the OC's of Lucy and Steven, and I will continue putting in as much as my imagination will allow. _

_So, again, comment in the review box, put down your opinions on this chapter and story. Do you hate it, do you like it? Give me your honest opinion, because we're all human here, and each and every one of us have opinions. Also, feel free to give me any ideas on what you want to see in the story, if I find it believable and good, I will write about it._

_So, see you in the next chapter, and hopefully it won't be as long this time. Anyway, adios!_


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